Kidnapped Coed (1976) Synopsis: Sarah is leaving her boarding house when she a petty hood kidnaps her and holds her for ransom. But the inept crook has to defend his meal ticket from other criminals wanting her for the ransom and some of the most random attacks imaginable. Thoughts: Man "Coed" really needs to be seen to be believed. The silly script rely almost solely on random circumstance to the point of hilarity. You feel sorry for the kidnapper in the end because the guy never catches a break. Thugs, murderous farmers and the odd robbery leaves this guy constantly in the wrong place at the wrong time. The woman is about as lucky as the thug only dumber blowing off a million ways to get to safety. And what's with the phone booths all out in the middle of nowhere? Like I said. Something else. (Stars: Jack Canon, Leslie Rivers, Gladys Lavitan, Larry Lambeth, Jim Blankinship) Dir...Frederick R. Friedel) (DVD) Film Rating: 2/5) (Fun Rating: 4/5)

I remember being at a convention and seeing my first Severin booth and thinking, "If I start buying these movies, I'm never going to stop."

I can't always predict the future all that well, but after my first purchase - Dr. Butcher M.D., in case you wondered - I keep buying something from this label almost every single month.

The films of Frederick R. Friedel set - which also has Axe and Blood Brothers - is just one of so many examples as to why I love Severin. Not only have they taken a Video Nasty and a drive-in obscurity and made them look better than they ever have before, they've also found almost everyone that worked on these films, gotten their side of the story and explain what actually happened before, during and after they were filmed.

Jack Canon, who the credits erroneously refer to as the kidnapped co-ed, plays Eddie Matlock, who is really the kidnapper. He was also in Axe, Maximum Overdrive and Trucker's Woman. As the film begins, he's already taking Sandra Morely (Leslie Rivers) captive. Her father puts a big ransom out for her return, so other criminals now are after them both to try and get paid.

Also known as Date With a Kidnapper, this is 75-minutes of a movie where things just happen for no reason, with no set-up or explanation. Axe is a movie where nothing happens for long stretches of time, while this is the opposite, a movie where all kinds of things happen and the Stockholm syndrome is in full effect - although the kidnapper isn't truly the villain he seems to be when this all begins.

This film looks gorgeous, getting every cent of its budget on the screen, and was shot by Austin McKinney, who worked on all sorts of genre films, from shooting Boris Karloff's four Mexican films (The Snake People, House of Evil, Isle of the Snake People and Alien Terror),Hot Summer in Barefoot County, Getting It On and Jaws 3-D to being part of the sound crew on Hellraiser III and A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child to working on the special effects team on movies like Beastmaster 2, Escape from New York, Battle Beyond the Stars, Sorceress and The Terminator. He was even the uncredited editor for The Beast of Yucca Flats and the production manager for The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?

Cynical small-time criminal Eddie Matlock (an intense and credible performance by Jack Canon) abducts teenage girl Sandra Morely (a solid and sympathetic portrayal by pretty redhead Leslie Rivers). However, things don't go as smoothly as planned after a series of unusual and unexpected complications ensue.

Writer/director Frederick Friedel, who previously gave us the singular "Axe," once again does his customary bang-up job of crafting a uniquely bleak and brooding atmosphere, relates the absorbing story at a deliberate pace, maintains a harsh grim tone throughout, makes nice use of seedy rundown locations, and starkly exposes the seamy underbelly that exists right beneath the surface of heartland America. Moreover, Friedel's fascinating depiction of a cruel and brutal world populated by deliciously deranged and dangerous secondary characters gives this picture an additional jarring edge: The random encounters with such folks as a sleazy rapist motel clerk and his equally slimy bellhop cohort, a demented pitchfork-wielding farmer with a catatonic daughter, and an unfriendly and unhelpful blind man rate as striking moments of inspired lunacy. Larry Drake pops up in a small role as a nursing home attendant. Austin McKinney's sharp cinematography and the groovy percussive score by John Willhelm and George Newman Shaw are both up to speed. Exploitation cinema fans looking for something different should dig this one.